Quick Pitch: Diner Connection sends text messages to restaurant patrons to let them know when their table is ready.

Genius Idea: A few years back, Shawna and Geoffrey Simpson vacationed in Waikiki. The couple was prepared for two-hour wait times at popular restaurants, but one evening they were handed a coaster-sized pager they could only carry up to 200 feet away. Ironically, the restaurant parking lot, which was out of the pager's range, had a very lovely view of the beach. Instead, the couple was forced to wait inside with no view, cooped up next to other hungry patrons.

Another bad experience years later inspired the couple to do something to improve the restaurant wait experience. They had the idea to send text messages to patrons to alert them when their tables are ready.

Soon thereafter, Geoffrey Simpson attended a Startup Weekend in Tulsa and decided he could use Twilio's communication platform to power the text-messaging restaurant idea.

When a rough, early version of the application went on to win a Twilio developer contest, the Diner Connection business was officially born.

Publicly launched in September 2010, Diner Connection offers web-based wait-list management, reservation management and SMS marketing services to restaurants in the United States. The service starts at $99 per month with a free trial period and helps restaurants replace their costly pager system with a text-based system that messages customers when their tables are ready.

The system is set up to better satisfy the needs of waiting customers and help restaurants more efficiently manage wait lists and reservations. "Customers give their cellphone number, and then they can wait wherever they're comfortable," explains Shawna Simpson, Diner Connection president. "Comfortable and relaxed customers will spend more money," she says.

Diner Connection's wait list and reservation tools are accessible via any web-enabled device, though the company plans to release a native iPad app for restaurant management and a consumer-facing iPhone app for reserving tables at nearby restaurants. Restaurants can also use Diner Connection widgets on their websites to allow customers to reserve tables on the web.

Part of Diner Connection's monthly fee allows restaurants to send their diners targeted SMS marketing messages on nightly specials or discounts. Customers can opt out of the messages at any time, but Simpson acknowledges that this is one area where she needs to better educate participating restaurants on best practices.

The reservation side of the business brushes up against OpenTable's popular but more hardware-intensive offering.

The SMS wait-list product seems to be the biggest selling point for restaurant owners. Ryan Parrott (@chefrp on Twitter) at the Iguana Mexican Grill in Oklahoma City — which can run a wait time as long as two and half hours on a Tuesday night — speaks enthusiastically of the text-based wait-list service.

"Our customers love it," he says. "They think it's high-tech and cool." Parrott explains that the service frees up customers to go shopping at a neighboring store or grab a cocktail at nearby bar while they wait.

"Sending a text message allows people to be more mobile and more comfortable," he says, "and it helps all the nearby businesses."

With most patrons carrying mobile devices, a text-based wait-list management system is a no-brainer idea, and Diner Connection's primary challenge will be in getting the word out about its service. The young startup has roughly 30 restaurant customers, most of whom are located in the Tulsa area. It faces competition from Textaurant, ReadyPing and traditional pager providers.

The startup simply consists of a husband and wife team, but Shawna Simpson explains that the company is going after $500,000 in funding to hire a sales team and fuel expansion.

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

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